Alright as everyone knows im a seeker. I am very attracted to buddhism but I am also attracted to Bahai faith. I have a question concerning having statues. Today my wife surprised me with a Buddha statue. it looks very beautiful and we put it up on the bookshelf with candles around it. Now even if i were to be buddhist, buddhist do not worship buddha. So my question is if i become a bahai can i keep the image since it is not an imaged that is worshipped?

Alright as everyone knows im a seeker. I am very attracted to buddhism but I am also attracted to Bahai faith. I have a question concerning having statues. Today my wife surprised me with a Buddha statue. it looks very beautiful and we put it up on the bookshelf with candles around it. Now even if i were to be buddhist, buddhist do not worship buddha. So my question is if i become a bahai can i keep the image since it is not an imaged that is worshipped?

Baha'is recognize that many people will have images of say Jesus, Buddha, Krishna or some kind of religious statue or figure in their home..

We do not require people to destroy or discard these things in the beginning..
that is we are not iconoclast.. but it is our belief that in time as a person deepens in the Faith they will learn that images of the Manifestations are not respectful.. and as you indicate should not be worshipped.

Here are some quotes from our Baha'i sources:

The prohibition on representing the Manifestation of God in paintings and drawings or in dramatic presentations applies to all the Manifestations of God. There are, of course, great and wonderful works of art of past Dispensations, many of which portrayed the Manifestations of God in a spirit of reverence and love. In this Dispensation however the greater maturity of mankind and the greater awareness of the relationship between the Supreme Manifestation and His servants enable us to realize the impossibility of representing, in any human form, whether pictorially, in sculpture or in dramatic representation, the person of God's Manifestation. In stating the Bahá'í prohibition, the beloved Guardian pointed out this impossibility.

(From a letter dated 9 March 1977 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

Baha'i Faith

The Bahá'í Faith is a religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are about six million Bahá'ís in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.